At a Granite State hair salon, the Colorado congressman cut and coiffed his hair to promote the charity efforts of local business owner, David Holden.

Holden, whose 12- year old son Costica has autism, devised the idea after hearing about former Sen. John Edwards' pricey dos. Hoping to poke fun and advance a charitable cause, Holden has asked all presidential candidates to consider a cut.

So far only Tancredo and Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee have shed their gray locks for charity. Holden told reporters that a Democrat is also on this schedule. Tancredo's hair cut fee will be donated to the Autism Society of America.

This is yellow journalism at its worse. When I saw the headlines that CNN posted I thought, yeah, just what I expected of a politician. But when I bothered to read the article I saw what he did was a good thing. Shame on CNN for presenting this story as you did.

I HATE.. I repeat HATE how CNN labels these stories and then you get the ignorant masses who don't read the text below the headline assuming that he just got the haircut for $400 bucks instead of it being a CHARITY DRIVE for a good cause. CNN would never put that type of headline up for Hillary.

How many nights does Wolf Blitzer get to stay in the Lincoln Bedroom for putting up such softball questions as the "Pearls or Diamonds" question during the debate?

Oh, that's exciting. CNN throws out a catchy headline to reel me in, and when I click, he's giving money to charity, not spending excessively on a haircut. Isn't that just like CNN? Here's the headline: GOP Candidate spends $400 on a haircut. When worded like that, it's all too apparent where CNN's sympathies lie. Thanks, DCNN for another balanced headline!!!

Tricia M. wrote: "I paid close to $300 last year to provide food and toy boxes to
disadvantaged families at just at Christmas," yet went on to criticize Tancredo and politicians for getting his name in the media for getting a "service he needed." Wow, that's dripping in hypocrisy.

It was a $10 haircut, so he gave $390 away; is that better than the $300 you gave last year? Does it even matter? Writing about your own "generosity" and then cricizing someone else for taking credit for theirs is rather glib.

I'm curious, since you're so against getting a service you "need" in order to support a cause, have you ever donated to the local band's car wash?

Mr. Maxwell, you are such a cad. Holden's son has autism; yeah, I'm sure he's not interested in the cause whatsoever. Way to pimp your business, though. Real classy.

Folks, seriously, this guy is not going to win and he knows it. I doubt he thinks this will get him the nomination and win him the election. So why not use the attention he has right now to create buzz for a good cause?

Why can't he just do this without a lot of fanfare? Clearly it's a political move.

BTW, who the heck is this Tancredo guy?

November 17, 2007 07:15 pm at 7:15 pm |

Iranian Ajax

These people are not ordinary people. I mean politicians. These guys are hooked up and loaded with cash, connections and are the elite in American society.

It is precisely because of that assessment that they bend over backwards to show that they are like the common folk, like you and me. In doing so they make a horses butt out of themselves. These people couldn't even TRY to be like the common folks in this beautiful country of ours.

Look at Mike Bloomberg who takes the subway to work every day. Yet every time he does, there is someone there to take his picture.

Which brings me to another point: if Bloomberg is taking the subway to work every day, then he surely is in touch with the way people feel about the NYC Transit System – yet there is not change in the BS service that they provde.

Tom is such an amazing man. I wish more people would actually give him a chance. He is a real American unlike the other candidates. Even against what most people may think...Tom only cares about America and the American people. Tom would be the next Ronald Reagan if people would just give him a chance. PLEASE Iowa think of Tom when you go vote in the Caucus on January 3rd! God Bless America!

November 17, 2007 08:32 pm at 8:32 pm |

John

How easily this apparent bias could be rectified by changing the headline to:
Tancredo's $400 charity haircut

An addition of ONE WORD to make it a positive, factual, and unbiased headline.

$400 for a non-charity haircut would mean the politician has lost his/her frugality, and that would be just another example of the elite mentally ill class living their lives.

I thank Tancredo for bringing awareness to Autism. I know that wasn't his intention but it was the result and as the parent of an autistic child, I appreciate the exposure. This is an epidemic, one that our current administration is ignoring. Case in point, the recently vetoed Health Care bill included funding for autism in local schools.

So, like Tancredo, to want a photo up, the guy does not even pay the people that work for him.I wonder if he has ever heard of the phrase "charity begins at home"here home being the peole that work for him. Maybe not because he is so busy ranting about one issue over and over again.

Second, the comment about Canadians commenting –
1) The WWW stands for WORLD wide web. Get used to it.
2) America needs a reality check from the rest of the world. Half of this country is unbelievably blind.

Not so ironic that a comment about this man who plays on xenophobia for support – is a comment against a foreigner to the U.S. (Canadian). Think about it.

How surprising that a Republican gets bashed for doing something good for those less fortunate–sure, Tancredo wanted some positive publicity (instead of the usual childish name-calling he hears such as "xenophobe" and "racist"), but that's no different from most people, who make sure their donations earn them a tax break.

Oh, and in case you liberals didn't know this, conservatives give much more money and time to those less fortunate than you all can dream. Maybe it's because most of us don't obsess about buying that new cell phone or ipod like you mass media zombies do!

Why does the headline for this article not include the words, "For Charity" at the end? If someone were just glancing through the headlines, this one would be misleading. What a good cause to be bringing attention to. Good work, Tancredo.

I not for Tancredo or anything, but why is everybody overanalyzing this as some calculated 'photo op', as some people put it? Geez...the man gave 400 bucks to charity by getting a haircut. Thats something most of us wouldn't do even if the haircut was 40 bucks and the money was going to charity...I'm slowly losing faith in CNN and its ability to produce stories worth reading...